Erised Accident
by Xandrel Astraan
Summary: In the process of accidentally destroying a valuable, ancient object, Harry Potter receives an ability that is both a gift and a curse. DH compliant First Year story. Not a canon rehash.


Legal disclaimer for the entire story: Harry Potter doesn't belong to me and this story is not written for profit.

**Erised Accident**

By Xandrel Astraan

Chapter One

Quick, quiet steps echoed throughout the Hogwarts corridors. And yet, no feet making these steps were seen.

Harry Potter, hidden under his invisibility cloak, walked fast without stopping. He had a very important place to visit. A place which only became important to him recently, but one he had been visiting every night since then.

The chamber with the mirror which showed him his parents.

Despite being warned by Ron not to go see it again, Harry just had to. He had to see his parents. Before he discovered the mirror, before he even came to Hogwarts, he did not know how his parents looked. The Dursleys have never shown him any pictures and aunt Petunia refused to speak about his sister.

But now, Harry could see his parents. He could see them smile and wave and hug him, even if it was only in the mirror and not real.

It was only a few turns left, a few steps and he would be finally there. He would see his mother with her red hair and eyes as green as his own. And he would see his father, with the same unruly hair as he himself had.

At that moment, Harry was not thinking about being caught by Filch or a Hogwarts Professor. The three-headed dog he had seen in the forbidden corridor would not stop him now, not even the troll he and Ron defeated on Halloween.

However, perhaps Harry was walking a bit too fast, for when he finally arrived in the chamber with the ornate mirror, he was so excited that he accidentally stepped on the edge of his invisibility cloak.

The cloak slid off him partially, got between his feet, he tripped and suddenly his excitement was gone, replaced by sheer terror. This couldn't be happening, not now! But it was hopeless, Harry fell directly towards the very mirror he was so eager to visit and bumped into it.

"NO!" He shouted and threw his hands towards the falling object in a desperate attempt to grab it by the frame, but it was too late and it fell on the floor.

There was a loud crash as the mirror shattered into hundreds of pieces, each one glowing with magical, colorful light. A wave of intense heat met Harry through his cloak, he felt as if his eyes were on fire and he had to quickly close them. As such, he did not see, as something resembling a rainbow spread in all directions from the remains of the mirror.

And then, it all stopped as if it never happened. The heat disappeared and Harry reluctantly opened his eyes, dreading what he would see. The chamber was back to normal, but the mirror lay in pieces all over the floor and there was no sign of the beautiful light.

Harry however, was not focused on magical lights, he was horrified. Not only was he going to be in trouble for destroying school property, but he had lost his only way of seeing his parents. As he stood up shaken, Harry did not even hear the quick steps behind him.

"Harry, are you quite alright my boy?"

Harry did not have to turn around to recognize the voice of Professor Dumbledore. He was in real trouble now, no doubt he would be expelled. The thought of returning to Dursleys and being mocked for having been thrown out almost brought tears to Harry's eyes. Malfoy would have a laugh for sure, the great Harry Potter failing his first year at Hogwarts.

Looking from the shattered remains of the mirror, Harry turned to Dumbledore and made an involuntary step backwards.

It would appear that the Headmaster did not arrive alone. He was surrounded by other people, some of them clearly related to the Professor. There was an older couple, perhaps Dumbledore's cousins or siblings, there was a man that looked very similar to him, maybe a brother, and there was a girl about Harry's age, smiling and playing with the Headmaster's long beard.

The only person seemingly not in any way related to Dumbledore, was a handsome blond man, wearing a cloak that looked identical to Harry's own Invisibility Cloak. In his right hand, he held a wand, not pointed at anything really, but somehow displayed proudly and in the other, he had an ornate ring with a symbol Harry was too far away from to recognize.

Why they were all here with the Headmaster, walking around Hogwarts at night, Harry did not know. But he nodded to each person, trying to salvage his situation by at least having good manners. However, Professor Dumbledore seemed to not care, as he looked at what Harry was doing with surprise.

"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to break it," said Harry automatically. Bizarrely, the other people kept smiling and not really looking anywhere. The little girl kept playing with the Headmaster's beard, but it was as if he did not notice.

"Strange how nearsighted being invisible can make you," said Dumbledore, and Harry was relieved to see that he was smiling as well.

Then, as Harry blinked, all the people except Professor Dumbledore disappeared as if they were never there.

Naturally surprised, Harry just had to ask. "What happened, sir? They disappeared!"

"Who disappeared, Harry?"

"The people who were with you just now, they all just vanished. Can they become invisible as well?"

Dumbledore looked at Harry with worry. "Harry, my boy, I arrived here alone, without any other people. Are you saying you saw someone with me?"

Harry opened and closed his mouth. What? So this was all a hallucination?

"Well, yes. They were here just a moment ago, sir."

"That is very strange, Harry. I am not saying I do not believe you, but perhaps you could describe them?"

Harry could only nod and begin describing those who arrived with the Headmaster.

"Most of them were very similar to you sir, I thought they were your family." At these words, Dumbledore looked troubled.

"Family, Harry?" The Professor asked in an uncertain tone.

"Yes, sir. There was an older couple, a man and a woman, they were a little similar to you. There also was another man, who looked as if he could be your brother. With them there was a young girl, maybe my age. She was even playing with your beard!"

The Headmaster looked as if he had seen a ghost, he looked at Harry with something akin to disbelief, and was that a shadow of anger on the older man's face? Clearly Harry must have imagined that.

Professor Dumbledore spoke slowly and in a more collected tone than before. "You said most of them were similar to me, who was not?"

Harry wasn't sure if revealing more was a good idea, what if the Headmaster thought he was lying to avoid trouble? Still, Harry wasn't about to deny everything, so he continued.

"There was a blond man, younger than you, sir. He had an invisibility cloak like me. That's why I thought they all became invisible."

"He had your cloak? Did he have anything else, anything at all?" Professor Dumbledore spoke in a surprisingly agitated tone, Harry even noticed that his hand twitched a little. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach.

Harry struggled to remember the details, he was initially too nervous due to all the events to pay attention, but he finally recalled the blond man.

"Actually, yes, sir. He had his wand in one hand and a small stone in the other. That's all."

At that, the Headmaster's eyes widened slightly in shock. He looked at the shards scattered on the floor and then at Harry again, who couldn't help but notice that the Headmaster suddenly looked very old and very tired.

"Oh, Harry, my poor boy."

"What's wrong, sir?"

"This mirror which is currently in so many pieces, is known as the Mirror of Erised. If you read the inscription on the frame backwards, it describes this object as a mirror which will show you your heart's desire instead of you real reflection."

"It will show me my desire?"

"Yes, Harry. Whatever you wish for the most, the mirror will show you, but only that. You, who have never known your family, see them standing around you. Ronald Weasley, who has always been overshadowed by his brothers, sees himself standing alone, the best of all of them."

"I see, sir. I understand now," said Harry and he truly did, it was not a difficult concept.

"However, a problem has presented itself to us. You were able to somehow see my greatest desire. My family being alive and well. Not only was that impossible with the mirror being undamaged, but you have managed to do so even without the mirror at all."

There was a moment of silence as Harry processed the words 'alive and well'. If that meant what Harry thought it meant, then Professor Dumbledore had lost many people in his life. A wave of sadness and compassion went through Harry and he felt ashamed. He had, after all, no right to see that even if he did not do it on purpose.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to do it," he said quickly.

"I'm sure you didn't Harry and that is what is worrying. Unless," Dumbledore took Harry's cloak in his hands. Then he shook his head a little.

He then looked Harry in the eyes and the boy felt as if he was being judged somehow. However, the Headmaster seemed calm and not at all angry, so perhaps that was not the case.

"Well, we shall focus on that later. For now you should return to bed, it is quite late."

And with that, Professor Dumbledore escorted Harry personally to the Gryffindor common room. Before Harry went through the portrait though, the Headmaster called to him one last time.

"If you would be so kind Harry, please visit my office tomorrow."

Harry only nodded to that and went to his dormitory.

Ron was sleeping peacefully, so he only hid his cloak and went to sleep as well.

However, Harry's dreams were far from peaceful. He kept having nightmares about the mirror and the way it shattered. In his dreams, the mirror screamed in pain as it was destroyed. Blood appeared on the shards, as if Harry killed a living creature.

And there was fire, lots of it. Flames of all colors would engulf the boy, but would only burn his eyes and nothing else. And throughout all this, there would appear this very strange symbol. It was a triangle with a circle inside it and a straight line inside the circle. It kept calling to him, but Harry did not know what it was saying or why.

He woke up in a cold sweat at one point, only to realize it was already morning and he was shaking. Ron was still asleep, so Harry realized it must be pretty early.

Nonetheless, he got up and went through his daily routine.

When he returned to get his wand, he saw that his friend was awake and getting dressed.

Harry was about to speak to him, but Ron's image suddenly shifted before Harry.

He grew to be taller than Percy, and he was ageing until he looked like he was either in his seventh year or had already finished Hogwarts. Harry noticed that Ron was the captain of the Quidditch team, but the badge of the Head Boy was also proudly displayed on his chest. There was this strange glow around the redheaded boy, as if you couldn't look away from him.

But what made less sense to Harry was the fact that he clearly saw his own lightning-bolt scar on Ron's forehead. He supposed that he understood Ron's desire to be famous like him, but he doubted his friend really understood the price for that.

A horrifying thought overcame Harry, he had a hundred questions at once. Would he see the desires of other people as well? Could this be stopped? Harry wasn't sure if he wanted to know everyone's deepest secrets.

He collected himself, gathered his wits and spoke to Ron as if nothing happened. Surely he could ignore it for now and then speak with Professor Dumbledore about it.

"You were right after all, Ron. About the mirror."

The redhead started at that. "Did something happen?"

"You could say that, I knocked the mirror over and it broke. Dumbledore caught me in the act."

Ron had to sit on his bed after hearing this.

"I told you so, Harry. Was he angry? I hope you're not getting expelled, mate."

"He wasn't angry, but something very strange happened during all this," said Harry and then went on to retell the last night's events. By the end of Harry's tale, Ron was looking at him with a surprised expression.

"You know, my dad has a saying. Never trust something if you don't know where it keeps its brain." He stopped at Harry's questioning expression and shrugged his shoulders.

"I suppose it applies to that mirror. You have to be careful with these old, magical objects Harry. You can never know if they are cursed or not."

A curse, this had not occurred to Harry. Perhaps he was cursed?

"Are curses like that common, Ron?"

"Yes, I heard my brothers once tell a story about this lady who bought a cursed chair. When she sat in it, she couldn't get up, just couldn't move, had to sit in it forever. Then again, I think Fred was the one telling the story, so he might have been joking."

Harry allowed himself a smile, a joke like that was just something Fred or George would tell. Meanwhile, it looked like Ron's appearance returned to its regular self.

Both boys went to breakfast, where they saw Professor Dumbledore and other teachers already at their table. Harry decided not to look at anyone directly, to make sure he would not receive any visions again.

He ate rather quickly, eager to go to the Headmaster's office as soon as possible. Even Ron was rather surprised at that.

"I just want to know if anything is wrong with me," explained Harry.

Ron rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure nothing's wrong. You weren't sent to the hospital wing, so you're probably not sick or anything."

When Harry was done, he waited for Professor Dumbledore to finish as well. He looked at the older man to see if he indeed finished eating and noticed that for the briefest of moments Dumbledore's family appeared once more before disappearing without a trace.

The Headmaster seemed to notice Harry's desperate expression, because he abruptly stood up and excused himself. Harry did the same and followed after the Professor.

"See you later, Ron. I'll tell you all about it."

After that, Harry and Dumbledore left the Great Hall. On the way, Harry wanted to start asking questions as soon as possible, but the Headmaster shook his head.

"Not here, Harry. What we will speak about is not for others to hear."

That almost stopped Harry during the walk. Why the secrecy? If this was just a curse or some strange condition, surely there was no reason for hiding it? Figuring that he would know in a moment, Harry remained silent until they reached a stone statue, shaped like a gargoyle.

Professor Dumbledore waved his hand and the statue moved, revealing a staircase.

"Come, Harry, we have much to discuss."

Chapter End.


End file.
